We’re in the Cloud – what’s next? Sky Computing, naturally.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Cloud Computing has revolutionised business, entertainment, education – literally every aspect of our professional and personal lives.

Before Cloud Computing, all data and software had to be stored locally. When desktop hard drives were outgrown by the sheer volume of data being produced, businesses had to build their own servers. The bigger the company, the bigger the server room.

Anyone who’s worked in IT long enough knows that building infrastructure is a colossal undertaking. And proprietary infrastructure is notoriously tricky to upgrade and migrate to newer platforms. But, before Private Cloud, this was all we had; enormous local networks, slowly building into lumbering giants.

IT teams couldn’t form lean, agile departments in large organisations; it was pretty much 24/7/365 work – maintaining, cooling, patching, firefighting (sometimes literally!). Like running a mini AWS in-house.

Cloud – and particularly Private Cloud – changed everything.

With the hardware, maintenance, bandwidth and scaling outsourced to a resilient and trustworthy supplier, IT teams could now focus on outcomes rather than upkeep. Businesses could scale their data requirements almost instantaneously. Upgrading and migrating became a one-time deal.

The Cloud has changed the world, and not just in business and IT. Social media, streaming services, online banking – it’s all Cloud-based. Locally stored data is fast becoming obsolete, because of the advantages of the Cloud. Limitless scalability, access from anywhere, on any device, and the ability to share links rather than huge files.

Read more – Private Cloud benefits

Businesses that have invested in Private Cloud are faster, leaner, and more ready to adapt than those on their own servers. They’re also far more resilient and secure.

But Private Cloud is only cutting edge today; tomorrow’s tech promises so much more…

Meet the next-gen Cloud – AKA Sky Computing

According to a 2021 study, we are witnessing the dawn of the next generation of Cloud: Sky Computing.

You might have already heard of it with a different, less buzzy name: MultiCloud.

But what is it? To understand, we’ll need to go back to the earliest days of the Cloud.

In the beginning, Amazon was the only real choice for Cloud solutions. AWS became the standard by default. But in the years since, Amazon has encountered competition from Microsoft, Google, and many other smaller players in the Cloud computing market.

Prices have been driven down by competition, and services have been increased.

But the way each Cloud platform works and operates has become disjointed, with each provider using proprietary systems. Each Cloud has its own APIs for managing clusters, its own version of object store, its own version of a data warehouse – nothing is interchangeable from Cloud to Cloud.

This means that apps developed for one Cloud platform won’t work on a different cloud without substantial changes – sort of how iPhone apps won’t run on Android and vice versa.

This is a problem, because it limits flexibility, localisation, disaster recovery, resilience – and consumer choice. Once you’re invested in a particular platform, you’re pretty much locked in.

And that’s great for Cloud providers: their business model is built around attracting and retaining customers, after all. But it’s not as good for the customer – especially when intense computing power is required over multiple cloud platforms. And this is really the key problem that needs to be solved.

Sky Computing claims to be the answer; a unifying layer above the Cloud that allows apps to be written once and run anywhere.

Sky computing has three foundational layers:

Compatibility

A compatibility layer enables an application developer to easily pick up and move their app from AWS to Google Cloud, or Microsoft to Oracle – or any other platform.

Intercloud

The intercloud layer allows applications to run across multiple Cloud providers — depending on user needs. The intercloud layer will decide where to complete computing tasks to achieve the outcome cheaper, faster or in a specified region (to preserve data residency).

Peering

The peering layer allows clouds to have agreements with each other, about how to exchange services.

Sky Computing promises a lot; more power and control, and more flexibility. So, will it become the norm?

The next 5 years in Cloud

Here’s what we think the biggest drivers in Cloud will be over the next five years:

Relentless growth

As 5G becomes dominant, internet connections speed up, and data creation becomes more complex, Cloud services will have to grow at a geometric rate. It’s unstoppable – and this creates an environmental issue; how do we power the Cloud?

Sustainability will be the focus

Sustainability will be the biggest challenge for data centres around the world. Power generation from sustainable sources, or even self-generated power could be the answer. Our new data centre in Miami, Equinix MI6, carries ISO 14001 certification for sustainability among its long list of credentials. We expect this to be a major factor for companies choosing their Cloud platform in the future.

Read more – Is Private Cloud environmentally friendly?

We users won’t notice much change

Will a next-gen Cloud transform the way we work, like Cloud 1.0 did? Or is the next-gen just an iteration of what we have now?

Well, the next generation of Cloud Computing could revolutionise the marketplace, democratising Cloud services further and instilling healthy competition from smaller providers. It could also bolster business by enabling supercharged Cloud Computing speeds, international MultiCloud operations and greater flexibility.

But fundamentally, it will be an invisible layer. And that’s a good thing. Most of us won’t notice anything’s changed – other than our services are faster, or more readily available, or more convenient. IT departments certainly will notice, though, and at deeserve, we’d certainly appreciate a more cohesive Cloud Computing ecosystem between platforms.

But, Sky Computing and the next-gen Cloud aren’t here yet – so until then, we’ll continue to develop and deploy our best-in-class Private Cloud solutions for businesses, everywhere.

Best-in-class Private Cloud solutions

Until next-gen Cloud Computing is the norm, deeserve will be creating best-in-class Private Cloud solutions for business, with today’s cutting-edge tech. Want to learn more about Private Cloud? Call us on 01509 80 85 86 or send your message to [email protected].

Posted on: 6th June 2022.